Alaska
fishing:
the Anchorage area

Species

For a metropolitan area, the Anchorage bowl offers a
surprising amount of good fishing. Even fishing in Ship Creek
downtown can provide surprising catches of salmon. Anglers are
found all along the Campbell Creek green belt in late summer as the
silvers enter the watershed.

Streams and lakes in the area and nearby
hold king (king) salmon, silver (coho) salmon, and pink salmon; rainbow trout, Dolly Varden,
pike, grayling, smelt and whitefish. There is no saltwater fishing
from the port of Anchorage. Ice fishing is popular on lakes in the
area during the cold months.

Anchorage is an initial destination for tens of
thousands of anglers each summer, of course, as it has the state's
busiest airport.

Jumping off from Anchorage

From Anchorage most anglers are jumping off to other parts of the
state. Within reasonable driving distance from Anchorage are:

Seward with offshore fishing
for salmon and halibut, as well as rockfish and even shark.

Kenai with both offshore, river
and lake fishing for halibut, salmon, and trout

Geography

Anchorage sits on a peninsula formed by Knik and Turnagain
arms. These "arms" are narrow silt-clogged and somewhat
dangerous waterways extending into the mountainous
country east of Cook Inlet. The peninsula on which Anchorage sits is relatively
narrow, but it is mostly flat. A number of lovely, clean rivers flow out of the mountains
into Cook Inlet, and it is up these that salmon ascend each summer. There are also
a number of fine fishing lakes in the area; just under 30 of which are
stocked by the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game with landlocked salmon, Arctic char, and
Arctic grayling.

Run Timing

The earliest open water fishing takes place beginning in late April
on the Twentymile River southeast of Anchorage proper where hundreds of
anglers dip for smelt (hooligan). Salmon begin showing up in May.
Some salmon continue to be available into October.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game's run timing chart provides
more specific information.

Transportation

Anchorage is served by many, many daily flights from around
the earth. Anchorage can also be easily accessed by the North American road system
and the Alaska Railroad from Seward and
Fairbanks. A number of cruise lines terminate near Anchorage, and
tens of thousands of these
visitors come through Anchorage for the final part of their trip, many
interested in fishing.

Weather

Anchorage area weather is milder than much of the rest of
the state because of its proximity to the large water mass of Cook Inlet. Summers
are cooler and winters warmer than in the Interior. Rainfall is higher here than the
dry Interior, but not as high as Southeast Alaska.

Current fishing
report from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (updated regularly during the
summer months)